SKYWATCH: IMPENDING SATELLITE CRASH, UNUSUAL EXOPLANETS, AND MORE

News
Rosat in orbit

DLR

Bulletin at a Glance

News
Observing
This Week’s Sky at a Glance
Community

Ready for Rosat’s Reentry?

October 18, 2011 | Sometime within the next week, perhaps on Sunday, a defunct German astronomy satellite will fall from orbit and drop a 1½-ton cosmic cannonball — its telescope assembly — somewhere on Earth. > read more

 

Two Interesting Alien “Worlds”

October 20, 2011 | More and more astronomers are searching for planets around other stars — in the hope of finding the biggest, smallest, hottest, coolest, and most Earthlike candidates. Here’s a peek at two recently-discovered oddballs. > read more

 

Taking the Temperature of Ancient Mars

October 21, 2011 | The famous (and infamous) Martian meteorite called ALH 84001 has revealed, for the first time, that the Red Planet had a warmer and wetter past — at least here and there on its surface. > read more

 

Observing

Paths of Uranus and Neptune in 2011

S&T diagram

Uranus and Neptune in 2011

May 31, 2011 | Uranus and Neptune are easy to find with the aid of the charts in this article. > read more

 

Observe Mira, the Amazing Star

September 28, 2011 | The extraordinary variable star Mira is expected to peak in early October, 2011. > read more

 

Jupiter: Big, Bright, and Beautiful

September 23, 2011 | The “King of Planets,” which will dominate the evening sky from late 2011 through early 2012, is a captivating sight no matter how you look at it. > read more

 

Trusty Comet Garradd

September 1, 2011 | Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd is shining at 7th or maybe even 6th magnitude as it traverses southeastern Hercules. > read more

 

Ceres and Vesta in 2011

September 8, 2011 | The two brightest asteroids are in fine view for binoculars or a telescope. Here are instructions and charts to find them. > read more

 

Tour October’s Sky by Eye and Ear!

September 30, 2011 | This is a month of transition: Northern summer becomes autumn, Saturn sets just before Jupiter rises, and Venus is moving from the morning sky before dawn to the evening sky. > read more

 

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

Dawn view; looking southeast

This Week’s Sky at a Glance

October 20, 2011 | Venus and Mercury briefly peek into view after sunset. On the other side of the sky, blazing white Jupiter has nearly reached its unusually close opposition — and is as big as you’ll ever see it. > read more

 

Community

Great World Wide Star Count

Windows to the Universe / UCAR

The Great World Wide Star Count

October 14, 2011 | Join thousands of other “citizen scientists” in raising dark-sky awareness around the globe. > read more

 

Let the Star Parties Begin!

April 14, 2011 | Want to gaze at the Milky Way all night or peer into the eyepiece of a 12-inch telescope? Escape the city lights and head for the nearest big amateur nighttime gathering. > read more

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